William Hetzer - Sydney & Environs c1860

The Macleay Museum has approximately 36 stereo albumen prints mounted on card by William Hetzer c1860. Included with these images is a box in which some of these stereo prints were sold. The images are mainly early views of Sydney - "... its harbour, principal buildings, streets and neighbouring scenery, &c." included in the collection are photographs of; St James Church, St Patrick's Church, Government House, The Exchange, George St, Governor Bourke's Statue, The North Shore, The Herald Office, Landscape Views and an early photo of New South Wales Aborigines.

Background

William Hetzer arrived in Sydney in 1850 and in 1858 he produced a series of 36 stereo views of Sydney which was to be published by subscription in three series of twelve slides each. Hetzer was an important influence on the development of photography in Australia not only through his own commercial work but also because he taught amateur photographers in Sydney. Some other amateurs operating in Sydney at this time include, John Smith, W.S.Jevons, and Robert Hunt.

820510002 George Street Sydney Including Post Office c1860	820510003 George Street Sydney Including Post Office c1860
820510004 George Street Sydney Bullock Team c1860	820510005 St Andrews Cathedral c1860
820510007 Government House Sydney c1860	820510010 Domain, Bourke's Statue & Library c1860
820510011 St James Church KIng St c1860	820510012 St Patriacks Church Church Hill c1860
820510013 Scot's Church Church Hill c1860	820510015 Wynyard Square c1860
820510016 Hunter Street c1860	820510017 Millers St & Paramatta River from Flagstaff Hill
820510018 Lower Fort St from Flagstaff Hill c1860	820510019 Harbour & Fort Macquarie (where the opera house is now) c1860
820510020 View of Sydney from Balmain c1860	820510021Balmain Sydney c1860

Dharawal & Gandangara at Camden Park c1859

The town of Campbelltown was formally established by Governor Macquarie in 1820 and, until the mid-1820s, it was the southern limit European settlement. The aboriginal people who lived in the area were referred to as the Cowpastures tribe by Europeans however anthropologists have concluded that they spoke the Dharawal language. Their territory covered a region from Botany Bay south to the Shoalhaven River and inland to Camden. To the south and the west, in the mountain highlands, lived the Gandangara and on the coastal plain of the Illawarra lived the Wodi-Wodi. This is amongst the earliest known photographs of these tribal people from New South Wales.

(For further information see Carol Listons artical in "Aboriginal History" Volume 12 1988)